# Ensure Alarm exist for CPU Utilization for Lightsail instances

- Source: https://support.icompaas.com/support/solutions/articles/62000220070-ensure-alarm-exist-for-cpu-utilization-for-lightsail-instances
- Section: [Solutions](https://support.icompaas.com/support/solutions) › [Security Controls](https://support.icompaas.com/support/solutions/62000065178) › [Amazon Lightsail](https://support.icompaas.com/support/solutions/folders/62000167575)
- Last updated: 2026-05-29
- Publisher: iCompaas, Inc. (https://www.icompaas.com)

**Description:**

Amazon Lightsail offers instances that provide a baseline amount of CPU performance, but also have the ability to temporarily provide additional CPU performance above the baseline as needed. This is referred to as bursting. 

  

**Rational:**

You can configure Lightsail to notify you when a metric for one of your instances CPU utilization crosses a specified threshold. Notifications can be in the form of a banner displayed in the Lightsail console, an email sent to an address you specify or an SMS text message sent to a mobile phone number you specify.

  

**Impact:**

If the alarm threshold is breached you will receive a notification in the Lightsail console, and, optionally, you can choose to receive an email message and/or SMS message. 

  

**Default Value:**

By default, lightsail will not set any alarm.

  

**Audit:**

1.  Sign in to AWS Management console
    
2.  Go to the Lightsail service at [https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/](https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/ "https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/")
    
3.  Choose and click on the instance you want to examine
    
4.  Go to the Metrics tab and select CPU utilization in the drop-down menu
    
5.  In the bottom check whether is there any alarm configured or not  
    ![](https://support.icompaas.com/assets/kb/32481c298c7914f8.png)
    
      
    

**Remediation:**

**Pre-requisites:**

-   Sign in as admin or IAM user with required permissions
    

**Implementation steps:**

1.  Sign in to AWS Management console
    
2.  Go to the Lightsail service at [https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/](https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/ "https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/")
    
3.  Choose and click on the instance you want to set the alarm
    
4.  Go to the Metrics tab and select CPU utilization in the drop-down menu
    
5.  Click on the CPU utilization  
    ![](https://support.icompaas.com/assets/kb/cef8b98ca876ba82.png)
    
6.  Click on Add Alarm at the bottom  
    ![](https://support.icompaas.com/assets/kb/670ba9cc930862c5.png)
    
7.  Set the mathematical expression and threshold along with the monitoring frequency as per your requirement  
    ![](https://support.icompaas.com/assets/kb/cbd932bf96454fcc.png)
    
8.  Choose the notifying option from the list of options available  
    ![](https://support.icompaas.com/assets/kb/c75b30a62f699058.png)
    
9.  Click on create
    

  

Via CLI:

put-alarm
--alarm-name <value>
--metric-name <value>
--monitored-resource-name <value>
--comparison-operator <value>
--threshold <value>
--evaluation-periods <value>
\[--datapoints-to-alarm <value>\]
\[--treat-missing-data <value>\]
\[--contact-protocols <value>\]
\[--notification-triggers <value>

`**Backout plan:**`

1.  Sign in to AWS Management console
    
2.  Go to the Lightsail service at [https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/](https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/ "https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/")
    
3.  Choose and click on the instance you want to disable the alarm
    
4.  Go to the Metrics tab and select CPU utilization in the drop-down menu
    
5.  At bottom Click on toggle button to disable the alarm or click on the side menu and select Delete Alarm to delete the alarm  
    ![](https://support.icompaas.com/assets/kb/8d74886ec337265e.png)
    

****Reference:****

****[](https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/ls/docs/en_us/articles/amazon-lightsail-notifications "https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/ls/docs/en_us/articles/amazon-lightsail-notifications")**[](https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/ls/docs/en_us/articles/amazon-lightsail-notifications "https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/ls/docs/en_us/articles/amazon-lightsail-notifications")**[](https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/ls/docs/en_us/articles/amazon-lightsail-notifications "https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/ls/docs/en_us/articles/amazon-lightsail-notifications")[](https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/ls/docs/en_us/articles/amazon-lightsail-notifications "https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/ls/docs/en_us/articles/amazon-lightsail-notifications")[https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/ls/docs/en\_us/articles/amazon-lightsail-notifications](https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/ls/docs/en_us/articles/amazon-lightsail-notifications "https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/ls/docs/en_us/articles/amazon-lightsail-notifications")[](https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/ls/docs/en_us/articles/amazon-lightsail-notifications "https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/ls/docs/en_us/articles/amazon-lightsail-notifications")[](https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/ls/docs/en_us/articles/amazon-lightsail-notifications "https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/ls/docs/en_us/articles/amazon-lightsail-notifications")**[](https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/ls/docs/en_us/articles/amazon-lightsail-notifications "https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/ls/docs/en_us/articles/amazon-lightsail-notifications")**[](https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/ls/docs/en_us/articles/amazon-lightsail-notifications "https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/ls/docs/en_us/articles/amazon-lightsail-notifications")[](https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/ls/docs/en_us/articles/amazon-lightsail-notifications "https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/ls/docs/en_us/articles/amazon-lightsail-notifications")[](https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/ls/docs/en_us/articles/amazon-lightsail-notifications "https://lightsail.aws.amazon.com/ls/docs/en_us/articles/amazon-lightsail-notifications")****

## Related compliance guidance

- [SOC 2 compliance: a practical implementation guide for cloud-native SaaS teams](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/soc-2-trust-services-criteria): Configuration checks like this one are the technical half of a SOC 2 / ISO 27001 programme — the guide shows where they fit, what else an auditor expects, and how to evidence them.
- [ISO/IEC 27001:2022 compliance: a practical implementation guide](https://support.icompaas.com/compliance/iso-27001-2022): ISO 27001 Annex A.8 (technological controls) is where cloud hardening evidence lands; the guide shows how to run the ISMS around it.